Do You Celebrate Success? 5 Ways to Be Royal and Celebrate!
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On Friday evening, Sept. 26th the Kansas City Royals did something they had not done in 29 years, when they clinched a berth into the MLB post season and the celebration was on. It was a great moment not only for the team and franchise, but all Royal’s fans. Way to go Royals! Your business may not have a celebration budget that include cases of champagne, Oakley goggles for eye protection, or a cleaning service eager to tackle the aftermath, but that doesn’t make your successes in business any less significant than winning a pennant race.
It is easy for business owners to get so wrapped up in the daily grind we forget to celebrate the successes we are having along the way. Not finding that time during the first few years of owning my dealership is one of the things about those days that I regret the most. My team was “all in” and we were consistently reaching new levels of growth (bottom line and top line) year over year. It was nearing the end of the 3rd year when it dawned on me, that we had hit some pretty significant milestones and we had never really celebrated the victories. My experience (and a lot of studies) has shown that you and your employees will be more motivated and more charged up if you can authentically celebrate an achievement.
So what can you do?
It doesn’t have to be expensive. This may be the biggest misconception about celebrating an achievement. It isn’t about spending a fortune every time something good happens. But it is about recognizing excellence, whether that’s a sales goal, the number of days without an accident, someone going above and beyond, or collectively reaching a production goal. It’s about putting a smile on the faces of those who helped achieve the result, letting them know they matter, that their efforts made a difference. And yes, this includes your own family and friends.
Here are 5 meaningful yet inexpensive ways to celebrate success:
- Personally thank those who contributed to the success. How many times do we forget to simply look an employee or customer in the eye and say “Thank you”. If you don’t have employees, maybe it is a spouse or business peer who supports you.
- When an employee with a family goes above and beyond with extra hours of work or travel and you know it impacts their personal life. Send a hand written note to their home address and thank their family for the sacrifices they made in completing the project/sale.
- At company meetings, recognize employees in front of their co-workers who displayed actions in the work place that exemplified one or more of your company’s core values. The acknowledgment could be for something done internally in your business or externally with a customer or at a community event.
- Take pictures of the event so it can be shared in a newsletter, put in a frame, or included in a newsletter. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but you first need the picture.
- Breakfast burritos, Pizza parties, or one of my favorites (if your business location allows) is the owner or management team grilling hamburgers and serving their team.
When it comes to celebrating, the bottom line is you don’t need to have cases of champagne to make your business Royal. What you do need is an intentional effort to acknowledge those who contribute to the successes of your business as they are achieved. Throw in some sincere gratitude, public acknowledgement and some time to reflect on things and your business will be royal too!
Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals for all their accomplishments this year. Feel free to share any thoughts about the Royals or ways you celebrate at your business in the space below. We always appreciate comments.
Ned Yost Celebrating by Charles Sollars via Flickr
Chris Steinlage Kansas City Business Coach
